Andy Warhol's Jackie Kennedy Series as Modern Madonna

Andy Warhol created over 300 portraits of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas. The series, including works like Sixteen Jackies (1964) and Nine Jackies (1964), began as Warhol experimented with screen-printing. Warhol was struck by the media's relentless coverage, stating that television and radio programmed everyone to feel sad. The serial repetition critiques how media shapes public emotion. Warhol used blue and gold backgrounds, referencing religious painting traditions to highlight Jackie's sanctity. Associate Bob Colacello described the works as religious art for a secular culture, completing a trilogy of saints with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor—Jackie as the Holy Virgin, a modern Madonna who suffered and remained revered.